At least one person at the house of Elian Gonzalez's Miami family during Saturday's predawn raid -- a Cuban American National Foundation security chief with a concealed weapons permit -- had been seen frequently at
 the home with a handgun strapped to his ankle.

 Federal authorities point to Mario Blas Miranda, 48, a licensed private investigator and president of Wellington and Knight Security, and fellow members of the family's security team as partial justification for their armed entry.

 Miranda, a former Miami police officer who left the force in 1992, has been a constant fixture in and around the house since the controversy began.

 Federal officials confirmed Sunday that their ''credible reports of weapons inside that house'' centered on the comings and goings of Miranda and his team -- not on information that any family members or other visitors had weapons.

 As it turned out -- authorities concede -- there were probably no guns inside the house.

 The family and its supporters are outraged that the government used guns during the incident.

 ''We were not armed,'' Marisleysis Gonzalez said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., Sunday morning. ''All we had was God on our side.''

 The task force outside the home early Saturday focused attention on Miranda, knocking him to the ground, forcing him to spread eagle, and dousing him with pepper spray while pushing a shotgun in his ear.

 ''I could not think,'' Miranda said later. ''I could not move.''

 Federal agents did not search Miranda for his weapon Saturday morning. Miranda declined to comment on Sunday.

 WEAPONS PERMIT

 Miami Police Chief William O'Brien said Miranda weeks earlier ''had reached out to our personnel to let us know he was carrying a weapon and that he had a concealed weapons permit.''

 O'Brien also said other Miami officers who had visited the home reported ''no weapons had been seen in the house. But with the number of people going in and out of the house, there was no guarantee.

 ''It's better from a law enforcement standpoint to err on the side of caution,'' he said.

 Federal authorities say the weapons coming in and out of the house with the private security force were enough to raise doubts about the safety of the operation.

 ''We had credible intelligence reports that led us to believe there could have been guns inside that house,'' said Maria Cardona, Immigration and Naturalization Service spokeswoman in Washington. ''If you have that information -- even if it doesn't end up being true -- you have to act accordingly.

 EXPERTS AGREE

 Law enforcement experts agree. They say whether or not guns were in the house -- or who in the house might have them -- is of little consequence, compared to whether police had even a small reason to be concerned.

 Cardona confirmed reports from other federal and local law enforcement authorities who said the only reports of weapons inside the house were those weapons carried by security guards on the payroll of the Cuban American National Foundation.

 ''I can tell you that I have heard those reports from our people in Miami,'' Cardona said.

 Those reports, in addition to at least two other unconfirmed reports of weapons in the neighborhood in the days preceding the raid, helped sway federal agents away from a ''soft approach'' and toward a use of force that shocked many.

 TWO REPORTS

 One such report came from a television reporter who said a woman showed her a gun in her purse. Pressed by police, the reporter declined to identify the woman.

 The second report centered on a nearby house where police had unspecified and as yet unconfirmed ''intelligence reports'' that weapons were being stockpiled. No police ever saw weapons coming or going from the home, and no warrant was ever obtained to search the house.

 The day before the raid, immigration officers arrested two residents of that home on unrelated immigration warrants. No one was at the house Sunday afternoon to comment.

 Cardona also confirmed reports from other unnamed Justice Department sources that Marisleysis Gonzalez made this troubling comment to members of the INS Community Relations Service on Thursday: ''You think we just have cameras in the house? If people try to come in, they could be hurt.''

 Said Cardona: ''I didn't hear the comment so I cannot confirm it personally, but I can tell you that our people in Miami have reported that comment was made, yes.''

 Armando Gutierrez, the family's spokesman, said Marisleysis ''would never say such a thing. I doubt that very much.''
 

 Herald staff writer Frances Robles contributed to this report.